The Commerce Commission today authorised the Telephone Number Administration Deed.

Commission Acting Chairman Mark Berry said that the Commission was satisfied that the public benefits from the Deed were such that the Deed should be permitted.

The Deed sets out principles for the independent administration of numbers, and a process to determine the preferred number portability solution.

The parties which have signed the Deed to date, Newcall Communications Limited, Teamtalk Limited, Telecom New Zealand Limited, Telstra New Zealand Limited and Vodafone New Zealand Limited, had applied for authorisation of the Deed.

Other telecommunications companies will be able to become signatories on the same terms and conditions.

There were two parts to the application.

First, the applicants sought authorisation for the Deed to the extent, if any, that it substantially lessened competition. The Commission found that the Deed did not lessen competition and accordingly declined to authorise that part of the application.

Second, the applicants sought authorisation of the Deed to the extent that it contains an exclusionary provision in terms of section 29 of the Commerce Act. The Commission found that the Deed limits the allocation of numbers to the signatories to the Deed and accordingly constitutes an exclusionary arrangement. Mr Berry said, however, that the Commission considered that the exclusionary arrangement did not result in any competitive detriments and that the Deed would give rise to significant public benefits.

In particular, the Commission concluded that:

? If authorisation was not granted the Government would legislate to enact regulations similar to those in the Deed. These would, however, be likely to come into force 18 months to two years later than the Deed.

? There would be considerable costs to the Government and others in the administration and enforcement of the regulations.

? There would be significant benefits to the public from the earlier introduction of the procedures under the Deed. The Deed would be likely to lead to the earlier commencement of processes resulting in the independent administration of numbers and the study to determine the preferred portability option.

In making its decision, the Commission noted that the Deed provides only for the mechanism of identifying the preferred number portability solution. This process will result in the subsequent identification of how the costs are to be allocated amongst the parties under the Deed. Mr Berry said that the mechanism to achieve this was not anti-competitive. He noted, however, that should the parties allocate costs in a way which would result in an anti-competitive impact, remedies will remain available under the Commerce Act.

Media contact: Acting Chairman Mark Berry

Phone cellphone 021 662 799

Communications Officer Vincent Cholewa

Phone work (04) 498 0920

Commission media releases can be viewed on its web site www.comcom.govt.nz